No. 3. 



Agricultural Fair. 



97 



Agricultural Fair. 



The Philadelphia Agricultural Society held its An- 

 nual Exhibition at the Lamb Tavern, on the 4th and 

 5th insts., and the Ploughing Match on the Cth. The 

 ample grounds in the vicinity of the Hotel, were con- 

 veniently adapted to the purpose, and were so well 

 filled with stock, implements, and people, as to make 

 the scene an exceedingly animated and interesting 

 one, and showed conclusively, the spirit and enter- 

 prise which are operating not only upon the Society 

 itself, but upon our farmers, both of this State and the 

 adjacent ones, many of whom were on the ground. 

 The display of cattle of improved breeds, was, we 

 thought, more numerous than last year, and included 

 some as fine animals as are in the country. There 

 were not a great many horses on the ground: there 

 were however, some fine specimens of this noble ani 

 mal. Of sheep and hogs, there were very few. The 

 agricultural implements spread out for examination, 

 did great credit to their makers, and could hardly help 

 giving a broad hint to the farmer, that if his work 

 was not well done, the fault was not in the tools that 

 were offered him. The weather was charming: our 

 autumns are proverbially delightful ; the last two days 

 were perfect specimens. 



A stage was erected in the field for the accommoda- 

 tion of the orator of the day— Peter A. Browne, and 

 the officers of the Society. About noon, on the 5th, 

 James Gowen introduced him to the people, and the 

 Address was listened to with deep attention and plea- 

 sure. The following outline of it, we copy from the 

 United States Gazette of the 6th inst. — Ed. 



The first occupation of civilized man, he 

 said, was Agriculture. In his barbarous state 

 he roamed about tlie earth hunting the wild 

 heasts of the forest — snaring fish — or pluck- 

 ing the berries and roots which grew spon- 

 taneously. But when the light of civiliza- 

 tion dawned upon him, lie took to the earth, 

 stirred the soil, scattered a few seeds, and 

 reaped a scanty but permanent reward. It 

 was not only the earliest, but the most health 

 ful employment of civilized man, and by that 

 moderate labour for which he was by nature! 

 destined, he gains an appetite for his simple 

 but wholesome food, and insures a sound and 

 invigorating sleep when the toils of the day 

 are over. 



Agriculture is the most useful employment 

 that any one can pursue — without it there 

 could be no commerce, for if we had nothing 

 to offer in exchange with foreign nations, 

 they would soon cease to furnish us with 

 their productions. Besides what is consumed 

 at home, at least three-fourths of all the ex- 

 ports are furnished by Agriculture. With- 

 out it there could be but few manufactures, 

 for it is the farmer who raises the cotton, flax 

 and hemp, indispensable to the manutactur- 

 er's pursuits: — and the miner, how could he 

 continue to delve into the earth, if the pro- 

 vident farmer, was not in the meantime em- 



ployed in providing his daily food] The 

 labour required at the hands of those who till 

 the earth is not incessant. Nature is boun- 

 tiful to those who are moderately industri- 

 ous, and after every rural pursuit has been 

 assiduously attended to, ample time is left to 

 improve the mind, to cultivate the morals, 

 and to attend to those religious duties that 

 are indispensable to a finite and responsible 

 being, under every condition of life, and 

 therefore the cultivation of the earth would, 

 appear to be, a most desirable employment — 

 combining health, usefulness, morality and 

 prosperity in an eminent degree. 



Some interesting statements followed con- 

 cerning the early efforts of the Society to 

 subvert the determined prejudices against 

 " Book Farming," or scientific improvements 

 in agriculture; then entertained upon the 

 principle, that those who did not follow the 

 plough could not possibly advise the tillers 

 of the soil — an opposition carried so far, that 

 Washington failed in his endeavours to pre- 

 vail upon the National Legislature to estab- 

 lish a "National Professorship of Agricul- 

 ture," and the wise Madison laboured in vain 

 to cause a similar professorship to be en- 

 grafted upon the plan of the University of 

 Virginia. 



The orator then proceeded, after paying a 

 tribute to the value to the husbandman, of 

 the researches of Sir Humphrey Davy, Lie- 

 big, Silliman, Vanuxcm, and Rogers, to point 

 to the sources of knowledge, whence the 

 farmer, desirous of understanding his pro- 

 fession and acquiring the ability to use and 

 produce the gifts of nature to the best ad- 

 vatage, should turn for instruction. 



No one, continued he, need be appalled at 

 the amount of labour in learning — there was 

 no need to be profound in all — it was only 

 necessary not to be ignorant of those points 

 in each department of science intimately 

 connected with his own pursuits. The means 

 of learning have been multiplied, and the 

 long winter evenings would afford ample 

 time for the acquirement of the necessary 

 knowledge. To their means of enjoyment, 

 also, had been added agricultural societies, 

 by which industry had been stimulated, emu- 

 lation excited, and an incalculable amount 

 of good done. The cause is advancing, and 

 the friends of the art do not despair of the 

 establishment of a national professorship. In 

 some particular branches of agriculture, 

 much had been done in the way of their ad- 

 vancement. In 1842, Ohio paid bounties on 

 silk to the amount of !S!6,500, Pennsylvania 

 •M,00(>, and agricultural societies had in- 

 duced the employment of the pens of men 

 of eminence, to investigate the causes of 

 smut, rust, and the Hessian fly, with lauda- 



